Advising in Communication Studies

Advising in Communication Studies

Advising in Communication Studies:

Course Selection/Registration

Advisinginvolves identifying interests, choosing options and minors, finding co-curricular opportunities, and planning for life after graduation. But one crucial aspect of advising is the course selection process. This handout is intended to help faculty members and undergraduate students think systematically about course selection relative to UM’s graduation requirements.

Four critical thresholds for graduation should be reviewed during course selection:

1. 120 credits

All students regardless of entry date or transfer status need to reach 120 credit hours to graduate. On the transcript, the number that matters is “earned hours,” which includes UM and transfer courses successfully completed for a traditional or CR. Courses with grades of I, F, W, and NCR do not earn hours, and repeated courses only earn hours once.

2. General Education

Determine which catalog will be used for Gen-Eds and have the correct requirement list in the student’s advising folder. Students who started college (UM or elsewhere) prior to 2009 can use a catalog with the earlier requirements, as long as the catalog is no more than six years old and they were enrolled at the time. Students must earn a grade of C- or better for a course to satisfy Gen-Ed requirements.

Students entering UM starting with the 2015/2016 Catalogue must complete the general education foreign language requirement. Students using prior catalogues may still use the symbolic systems exception.

Because COMM students meet the A, S, and H perspectives with courses in the COMM core, give attention to the other perspectives during course selection. Students should take the three parts of the Writing requirement—WRIT 101, a second writing course, and the UD writing course in the major—in sequence.

3. Major requirements

COMM’s core requirements have remained stable for many years: 111, three intro courses, research methods, and a writing course. The intro courses are typically offered as large lectures one semester and online the opposite semester—Org Command Rhetorical Theory are f2f in Autumn, Interpersonal is f2f in Spring—and occasionally in summer. Students are not required to take 461 if it is not offered when they take 460 (such as summer session).

Several upper-division courses have an intro course as a pre-requisite, so students should plan to complete the intro courses as soon as possible. Statistics must be taken prior to 460. Org Comm students must declare their option and get an advisor signature on an approval form (in LA 301) to register for BMGT and BMKT courses.

4. Upper-division credits (39)

Students need 39 upper-division credits in order to graduate. This threshold is often the highest for transfers and students who have changed majors, as they may hit 120 credits and complete the major but still need upper-division credits. These students should not take lower-division courses other than what is required for the major, and should be steered toward EDU 421 to complete their Statistics requirement.

Advising in Communication Studies:

1. Become familiar with the “Communication Studies Major Requirements” checklist.

  • Try to take M 115 or its equivalent. This course is a pre-requisite for the statistics courses that fulfill the major requirement.
  • All courses taken to complete the major requirements require a grade of C- or better (per the 2005 UM Catalog).

2. Become familiar with the COMM Options

  • There are four Options from which to choose: Communication and Human Relationships, Organizational Communication, Rhetoric and Public Discourse, and the General Option. The General option gives the most latitude in course selection and has the fewest required credits. The other options provide a more focused curriculum and require 3-4 “Allied” courses in other departments.

3. Learn about the advising process

  • After you declare a COMM major, you will be assigned an academic advisor. To change academic advisors if desired, please contact Lanell Curry in LA 301.
  • Please bring your advising folder (located in the filing cabinet in the COMM Department office in LA 301), a copy of your transcript, and a preliminary course schedule to your advising appointment.
  • Students seeking approval for transfer courses to count toward the major should bring their transcript and course descriptions/syllabi to Lanell Curry in LA 301.

For more information, check out the COMM webpage: cas.umt.edu/comm

Rev. 8/2016

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